New indictments in college admission scandal

by By Bridgette Babb - copy editor

Tue, Apr 16th 2019 10:00 pm

Paid Admission Television personality Lori Loughlin (above right), has been indicted on multiple charges. This comes after it was revealed that her and her husband, Mossimo Gianulli, paid the University of South California to admit her daughters Olivia and Isabella (above left).

Affording a higher education is a problem in multiple households in the United States. Students depend on scholarships, grants and financial aid to get by. Imagine the feeling of knowing that people are paying for certain kids to be admitted to college.

Actress Lori Loughlin, best known for her roles on “Full House” as well as several Hallmark movies, and 16 others were all indicted on multiple counts in relation to the recent college admission scandal.

Celebrities such as Loughlin, her husband Mossimo Giannulli and Felicity Huffman have been charged on multiple counts of laundering. According to Cosmopolitan, they and allegedly over 40 others belonged to a secret society called “The Key.”

In this organization they would pay leader William “Rick” Singer thousands of dollars to basically buy their child’s way into a university.

They would even go so far as hiring proxies to switch answers on tests like the SATs to increase the overall score. TMZ reported Huffman’s daughter was given extra time on her SAT test and her scores were rearranged.

Of all the entities involved, 16 of them were parents. NPR reported that school officials, academic counselors and one coach were also involved in the scandal. Singer himself has pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including obstruction of justice and conspiracy racketeering.

NPR reported in a statement released by officials on the case that these adults would put money into a non-profit organization, which was owned by Singer.

They also allegedly transferred funds in and out of the United States with the intent to commit fraud. Each of these charges carries a $250,000 fine and at least 20 years in a federal prison.

The actions of these parents have began to affect their children drastically. USA Today stated that “at least two universities have booted students.” As expected, these colleges have chosen to release little to no information on the students who were involved.

This is a common tactic they use to wait until a situation has blown over. However, students and others have used social media to share their views. Yale released a statement first and recanted a student whose credentials turned out to be completely false.

The University of California followed, stating the institution froze the accounts of those students who were involved. USA Today also reported that the University of Stanford allegedly erased the credits of a student connected to the scandal. Some of the students claimed they had no idea what their parents had done.

News outlets have also reported on how the scandal has affected the children involved. Loughlin’s daughter, Olivia Jade Gianulli is now in the limelight, as older videos surfaced where she said she did not necessarily go to college for the educational aspects.

“I don't know how much of school I’m gonna attend, but I’m gonna go in and talk to my deans and everyone and hope that I can try and balance it all,” Olivia said. “But I do want the experience of, like, game days, partying... I don’t really care about school as you guys all know.”

There was even a Youtube video of her doing a Q&A session with her mother, in which Loughlin at some point said “Why am I paying all this money for your education?” Olivia later apologized for her comments. At that point she and the whole family were ridiculed on all social media accounts, Twitter in particular.

Twitter user @ClintSmithIII stated, “Thinking about all the black, brown, & low-income students who arrive at college & who are made to feel as if they don’t deserve to be there, while so many wealthy students have their parents essentially buy their way into these school & rarely experience the same skepticism.”

As a college student myself, this story is disturbing. It does not make sense that a parent thought that after 12 years of school their child still needed outside help to make it to college. They also didn't take into account that a lot of these kids are not interested in college.

If you already know what you want to do and have begun to create your brands, why go to college to waste four years? It’s highly unlikely scandals such as this will cease to exist, but this exposure may lessen the probability of more people going through with it.